Waiting for Lily

Lily Alice Donovan, future star of stage and screen (we hope, for our retirement purposes), turned 14 on Saturday. My little girl who isn’t so little anymore loves nothing more than to be out and about, doing all the things. So in between taxi-ing Miss Lily to stage schools across Leicestershire, each weekend we wander around, exploring. In fact, one of the reasons for starting this blog was to find something enjoyable to do, rather than to sit waiting in a car while Lily pirouettes her way through life.

Whilst we spend Saturday mornings in Market Harborough, we spend our afternoons in Leicester City Centre, which happens to be my old university hang-out.

Saturday, we did a few hundred metres, moaned about how cold it was, and decided to go and try out the lounge at The Belmont Hotel.

To my delight, it was toasty! There were comfy seats, clean bathrooms and some gentle Lionel Ritchie playing in the background. A forty-something bar of dreams! Once settled, I had a flashback to the wedding reception hunting I’d done here many moons ago. I was also drawn to the church opposite where I’d (unsuccessfully) sat an entrance exam to the civil service at the end of my university days. There’s nothing quite like a (youngest) teenage daughter’s birthday to remind you of how you’re knocking on a bit.

As we couldn’t sit in the hotel lounge only to keep warm, we felt obliged to order a beer. After all, not only is this my baby’s birthday, it is also the day to celebrate pushing out a seven-pounder. Well done me.

Completely off topic, and throwing it back 14 years, upon calling her from my hospital bed to tell her the delightful news of a second granddaughter, my mum asked me to check whether it was definitely a girl. She was so very convinced it would be a boy, she’d even bought a bauble for the Christmas tree with the boy’s name on it. True story.

Back to the present…

When I went to collect Lily from Curve theatre, I noticed a yellow poster and clever line running along the floor, signposting to their latest exhibition. I had just enough time to follow it and discover what was on show. ‘No drinks on the dancefloor’ is a collection of photos, lights and interview recordings from Leicester’s nightclubs through the years. This really was shaping up to be a day of reminiscing! It’s on until 17 March ‘23 if you get the chance…

Mooching and wandering has made me a tourist in my home towns, making me go and explore things that I would ordinarily miss. So whilst Lily has all the energy to go sing and dance in the theatres, I’m more than happy gently exploring, wandering, eating and drinking along the way. So to the bars, restaurants, cafés and interesting places of Leicestershire, feel free to send me your invites for my future days of waiting for Lily..